Michigan
Michigan State Open
Wolverines Set to Open 2019-20 at Michigan State Open
10/31/2019 4:12:00 PM | Wrestling
» No. 19 Michigan will kick off its 2019-20 season -- its 98th year of intercollegiate competition -- at the Michigan State Open this Saturday (Nov. 2) in East Lansing, Michigan.
» The Wolverines plan to send nearly their entire roster, including 18 attached competitors, to the season-opening MSU Open; Kanen Storr (141 pounds), Will Lewan (157) and Mason Parris (Hwt) captured individual titles last season.
» The 2019-20 season will be the second under head coach Sean Bormet, who posted a 13-1 dual-meet record and led U-M to a fifth-place NCAA finish in his rookie season at the helm.
THIS WEEK
Saturday, Nov. 2 -- at Michigan State Open (East Lansing, Mich.), 9:30 a.m.
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The No. 19-ranked University of Michigan wrestling team (0-0) will kick off its 2019-20 season -- its 98th year of intercollegiate competition -- at the annual Michigan State Open this Saturday (Nov. 2) in East Lansing, Michigan. The tournament is slated for a 9:30 a.m. start at Jenison Field House.
The Wolverines plan to send more than 20 wrestlers, including 18 attached competitors, to the MSU Open. Other Big Ten teams slated to appear include Illinois, Indiana, Ohio State and Purdue.
Wolverine Bites
• Four Wolverines are taking Olympic redshirts during the 2019-20 season -- fifth-year seniors Myles Amine and Logan Massa, graduate student Stevan Micic and senior/junior Kanen Storr. Micic and Amine have already qualified for the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo after placing fifth at 57kg/125 pounds and 86kg/189 pounds, respectively, at the UWW World Championships last month in Kazakhstan. Massa and Storr will look to qualify for the 2020 U.S. Olympic Team Trials. None of the four are currently enrolled in classes this semester and will retain the year of NCAA eligibility through the athletics activity waiver.
• Michigan returns four additional starters, including two NCAA qualifiers, from last year's team. Among the returners, sophomore heavyweight Mason Parris reached the NCAA Round of 12 and, more recently, captured a junior world gold medal in just the third major freestyle tournament of his career last August in Estonia. U-M also returns a pair of two-year starters in junior Drew Mattin and fifth-year senior Jackson Striggow as well as junior/sophomore Jelani Embree.
• The Wolverines will see some potential weight changes as fifth-year senior Austin Assad is slated to compete at 133 pounds and Mattin will bump up two weights to 141 pounds for this weekend's MSU Open. Mattin is a two-time NCAA qualifier at 125 pounds, while Assad has also seen starting time at 125 pounds while at Michigan.
• The Wolverines boasted three individual champions, eight finalists and 13 total placewinners at last year's Michigan State Open. Storr, sophomore/freshman Will Lewan and Parris all posted 4-0 records to capture the open-division titles at 141 and 157 pounds and heavyweight, respectively. Lewan and Parris won while competing unattached last season; Lewan is set to make his varsity debut this weekend.
• Michigan will face six teams ranked in the NWCA preseason poll, most notably four top-10 teams in No. 2 Iowa, No. 5 Nebraska, No. 6 Wisconsin and No. 7 Minnesota. Eight of 14 Big Ten schools were either ranked or receiving votes to start the 2019-20 season. Michigan earned the No. 19 preseason ranking.
2018-19 Season in Review
The Wolverines boasted a sterling 13-1 dual-meet record in head coach Sean Bormet's first season at the helm, highlighted by a dramatic 19-17 road win at No. 2 Ohio State, to finish third in the final Big Ten Conference standings before wrapping the season with a fifth-place finish at the NCAA Championships -- U-M's second straight top-five NCAA finish. Stevan Micic (133 pounds), Alec Pantaleo (157) and Myles Amine (174) all captured All-America honors -- all three rallying back to third place -- for the third time in their careers. Bormet was named Amateur Wrestling News' Rookie Coach of the Year.
Up Next
Friday, Nov. 8 -- vs. North Carolina (Cliff Keen Arena), 7 p.m.
Players Mentioned
